They Both Have Points to Make : 49ers Trendy Choice to Wear Crown Again

This isn’t Miami, 1969, and that isn’t the sound of two leagues colliding. These aren’t the days of white shoes, Fu Manchus, Joe Namath, finger-pointers, girls by pools or Jets talking like fools. But it’s all we’ve got.

So, early in the week of Super Bowl XXIV, Denver quarterback John Elway stepped to a podium here and guaranteed to the gathered ink-stained wretches, to the world really, that his Broncos--mark the time, date and his words--would do to the San Francisco 49ers the unthinkable.

They’d pass ‘em, hit ‘em, run ‘em, split their Golden Gates. The Broncos were going to, gulp . . . win? Who said win? Elway guaranteed his team would beat the point spread. No one makes his Broncos two-touchdown underdogs and gets away with it.

Winning? Well, that’s something else. Have to think that one over. And so the stage was set for the Super Bowl game between the team that couldn’t win, Denver, and the team that couldn’t lose, San Francisco.

You can bet oddsmakers don’t just fall out of bed and make one team a 13-point favorite. They study charts, figures, tendencies, karmas and pregame quotes from desperate coaches.

“I haven’t seen San Francisco have a bad game,” Denver’s Dan Reeves was saying late in the week. “The two games they lost were close.”

Any reason you can dream up why the 49ers should win today can be backed with data in triplicate.

The Broncos are 0-3 in Super Bowls, the 49ers 3-0. Since sputtering to a 6-5 start in 1988, the 49ers have gone 23-3. Two losses to the Rams and one to Green Bay--that’s it. San Francisco won two playoff games to get here by the combined score of 71-16.

Elway can’t park his car in Joe Montana’s lot when it comes to big games. Just ask ol’ tight lips himself, former Pittsburgh Steeler Terry Bradshaw, who stands more to gain with a Denver victory since it would keep Montana from the one Super Bowl record Bradshaw still owns and cherishes: Most victories by the same quarterback, four.

Last time someone checked, Bradshaw had the 49ers winning by something like 89-10. Bradshaw all but dressed Elway in diapers last week. Maybe he’s just trying to pump the Broncos up.

Bronco inside linebacker Karl Mecklenburg insists that Montana can be had. The reason the Minnesota Vikings and the Rams didn’t sack him in two playoff games was that they were attacking him in one area code while he was setting up in another.

“With his three-step drop, you can run around the corner all you want,” Mecklenburg said. Montana won’t be 10 feet deep in the pocket, so why waste your energy? Sounds like the Broncos have a plan.

“There’s no such thing as a perfect football player,” Mecklenburg said. “Nobody’s perfect. Not even Joe Montana.”

So far, near-perfect has been good enough for three Lombardi statuettes. In three Super Bowl victories to date, Montana has completed 61 of 93 passes--66%--for 845 yards and six touchdowns. And no interceptions.

If you can believe it, the 49ers listed Montana on their injury report all week with a “tender bursa sac on his right elbow.”

They’re saying he’s probable. As probable as today’s sunrise.

Elway, in two Super Bowl losses, has completed only 48% of his passes and has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns, five against two.

The statistical avalanche flows.

The National Football Conference is working on a five-game Super Bowl winning streak, taking those games by an average margin of 17 points.

Reeves was right about how close the 49ers came to perfection this season.

They lost a one-point game to the Rams on Oct. 1 when fullback Tom Rathman fumbled on the Ram 19 with 2:59 left and the 49ers leading, 12-10. Green Bay beat the 49ers by four points, 21-17, on Nov. 19. A San Francisco touchdown was called back late in the game because of a penalty.

Some are touting this year’s 49er team as one for the ages. The Broncos’ only mistake may have been picking the wrong year to avenge Super Bowl disasters. They lost in XXII to Washington, 42-10, and XXI to the New York Giants, 39-20.

Too bad, because this appears to be the best team Denver has brought to the dance. “I look back and wonder why we couldn’t be playing the Giants or Redskins with the team we have this year,” Bronco nose tackle Greg Kragen said. “Now, we have to play the team of the decade.”

After a year-long search, the Broncos finally found a can-do runner, Bobby Humphrey, who has taken some of the heat off of Elway’s legs and arm. Humphrey became the first rookie in team history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and only the fourth Bronco ever to do so.

The bad news: He cracked two ribs in Denver’s 37-21 AFC title-clinching victory over Cleveland. He will start today, Reeves said Saturday. But he might not be himself.

On defense, Reeves also brushed a bold stroke in the off-season when he relieved longtime defensive coordinator Joe Collier in a controversial move and replaced him with Wade Phillips, son of Bum. Denver’s defense finished third overall in the NFL this season.

Collier’s defenses were a combination of finesse, formations and equations. Phillips’ is a basic smash-face approach.

Mecklenburg: “It’s the difference between calculus and algebra. He (Phillips) puts you in simple defenses and trusts you to make the plays.”

More reasons for the Broncos to show up:

--They’ve beaten the 49ers four consecutive times.

--Elway. Has a great talent ever taken so much grief? Teeth? Too big. Hair? Too much. Super Bowls? Hasn’t won any. Quarterback he should most emulate? Montana. Regrets? He’s had a few.

“Sure, I’d like to have three Super Bowl rings right now,” he says of the incessant comparisons to Montana last week. “The only thing to make a career totally complete is to win the Super Bowl. I just want to be able to tell myself that that one time, I won the Super Bowl.”

--Post-career opportunities. “If you want to be on with Arsenio, or Carson, or David Letterman, you’ve got to win,” Denver safety Dennis Smith acknowledged. This game is all about fours. The Broncos are trying to avoid their fourth Super Bowl loss, which would tie them for all-time honors with Minnesota. The 49ers are looking for their fourth Super Bowl victory, which would tie Pittsburgh for most titles.

So who wants it more, John or Joe?

“I think we have to win to be even mentioned with people like the Steelers,” Montana said.

Elway’s opinion? Don’t mention it.

Super Bowl Notes

The NFC has won six of the last seven Super Bowls, but the AFC still holds the overall lead, 12-11. . . . San Francisco backup quarterback Steve Young on Joe Montana: “Sometimes I want to check in his head for a computer chip. He’s like an assassin. He’s not emotional. When he plays his best, it’s when he’s cold about the game.” . . . 49er safety Ronnie Lott said too much emphasis is being placed on the quarterbacks. “Both quarterbacks could have bad games and it still could be a great game,” he said. “There’s a lot of great quarterbacks out there that didn’t get here.”

The 49ers activated fullback Harry Sydney for today’s game, Coach George Seifert explaining he didn’t want to risk playing with only one fullback, Tom Rathman. “Harry is also one our valuable special teams players,” Seifert said. Sydney took the roster spot left open by Keith Henderson, who was placed on injured reserve earlier this week. Sydney will wear jersey No. 24. . . . Denver Coach Dan Reeves said he was unsure if tight end Clarence Kay, would play or how much. Kay has a thigh injury. “I’ll look at him and see how he does tomorrow,” Reeves said Saturday.